Cutting Edge: My Virtual Trip to the Grocery Store

Turkey Day is almost here and I decided to embark on a virtual trip to the grocery store. Let’s see how much money it would take to but together a Thanksgiving meal for six to eight people.

My first stop was couponmom.com. The site offers hundreds of dollars in free coupons. Registration is simple, just put in your home and email addresses. Sifting through all the product focused questions does get a little annoying, but once you’ve done that, it’s on to the savings.

I picked up a $.40 off coupon for any flavor box or pouch potatoes from Betty Crocker. I also picked up a $.50 off coupon for Green Giant frozen vegetables. The next on my cyber grocery trip was to the Shop Rite Web site. I found a circular for a local store. After some browsing I found an entire meal that would feed 8-10 people for $44.99. Though I didn’t set a budget, this is below my expected price which was about $80. The meal comes with:
- a fully cooked 10-12 lb turkey
- Mashed potatoes
- Whipped sweet potatoes
- Herb stuffing
- Creamed spinach
Total: 44.99
Here are the items I purchased separately
- Cool whip 1.29
- Friendly’s Ice Cream 1.99
- Apple pie 1.99
- Pumpkin Pie 2.49
- Coca-Cola brand 2 liter sodas 4 for $6
Total: $56.76

I didn’t need to use the coupons this time around, but they are good to have before going grocery shopping throughout the year. Something I hadn’t realized is that many grocery stores offer low price full Thanksgiving meals. Check your local grocers Web site before heading out.

Renita Burns is the editorial assistant at BlackEnterprise.com

ACROSS THE WEB

Now this is a relevant article. I just happened to this site thanks to a link from Judge Mathis’ site. From this article I learned that I can go to couponmom.com and get cents off coupons for food. But by you putting a price on a Thanksgiving Dinner, you showed me that 1) you put a ceiling on the price of the function. You budgeted $80.00, Instead of haphazardly going to the store to shop for items for dinner, you reminded me that by budgeting “everything”. Putting a $ sign on the whatever the event, occasion, reason for going to the store, set a $ limit. You came in well below the $80.00, and so it’s like you came up on $30. These days I have to make every dollar count. Great idea, great site. I’ll be following that advice!!! Very helpful. Thanks Judge and thanks Black Enterprise for a relevant site.